Conventional reciprocating piston internal combustion engines commonly incorporate a cylinder head which has a circular intake port which directly communicates with the cylinder and has a circular exhaust port which similarly directly communicates with the cylinder. Flows of combustion and exhaust gases into and out of such ports are typically controlled by at least a pair of mechanically actuated poppet valves which seat at and alternatingly open and close the intake and exhaust ports.
One of the primary advantages of providing an internal combustion engine cylinder head having such intake and exhaust ports directly communicating with the cylinder is that, upon unseating and opening the intake port poppet valve, combustion gases may be injected directly therethrough into the cylinder's combustion chamber. Such direct combustion gas injection tends to enhance cylinder gas pressure and enhance engine performance and efficiency. Yet, such directly communicating cylinder head porting entails certain drawbacks or disadvantages.
One drawback or disadvantage of a directly ported cylinder head derives from the mass of the ports' at least paired poppet valves. The reciprocating motions of typically massive steel intake and exhaust port controlling poppet valves, along with their respective actuating mechanisms, wastes energy and decreases the overall fuel and energy efficiency of the engine.
Another drawback or disadvantage associated with provision of such poppet valve controlled cylinder head intake and exhaust ports derives from the typical geometry of the cylinder and the ports. The cylinder head intake and exhaust ports are desirably circular and large, enhancement of the port's diameter and opening area tending to decrease resistance to flows of combustion and exhaust gasses, and commensurately increasing the fuel and energy efficiency of the engine. Yet, provision of paired or side by side poppet valve controlled intake and exhaust ports limits the diameter of each such port to a dimension which necessarily is less than the circular radius of the cylinder. In order to increase the cumulative intake and exhaust port size, poppet valve controlled intake ports and exhaust ports are known to be paired in a square array of four ports. However, such doubling of the number of ports undesirably doubles the number of massive poppet valves and actuators which must be reciprocatingly mechanically moved, further reducing the mechanical efficiency of the engine.
The instant inventive gas channeling cylinder head assembly advantageously achieves the above described benefits of conventional cylinder head assemblies (i.e., direct cylinder injection of combustion gasses and enhancement of port size) while ameliorating the drawbacks and deficiencies of such assemblies (i.e., fuel efficiency and energy wasting reciprocating motions of multiple massive poppet valves and mechanical actuators) by incorporating into a cylinder head a specialized gas plenum having gas flow directing check valves.